Comments

  1. dorable says

    I actually really enjoy reading this blog, but I have to say that I'm disappointed that you decided to "dress as Chinese" this year. The appropriation of other people's culture is offensive and reduces people, culture and tradition into recognizable stereotypes.

  2. Sarah says

    Hello!

    I appreciate your honesty, and I can see now how it could come across that way. My husband being 75% Chinese, I always wanted to buy those beautiful Chinese dresses for our two girls, and thought we'd dress them in their heritage for Halloween, just like how I loved wearing my Korean traditional dress for Halloween when I was a little girl. I didn't mean to sound disrespectful to any culture or race, my favorite person is Chinese, my husband!:) I've change the wording after reading your comment, and I appreciate your feed back, thank you!

    Best,
    Sarah

  3. dorable says

    Thank you Sara for your consideration. I'm sure as a child, wearing a hanbok or something similar was really exciting, since we, as multicultural individuals, don't often have the opportunity to wear our special clothes that often. But that's what makes them so special, they represent our culture, our families, and the life changing events and milestones that we celebrate. I will have to respectfully disagree that Halloween is a good time to wear traditional dress, whether or not they are your personal traditions.

    I believe we all have the responsibility to educate the public about our culture in a respectful way. When we get down to it, your hanbok, a cheung sam, an ao dai are for special occasions, dresses you would wear on your wedding day, to visit older relatives, or celebrate cultural holidays.

    Unfortunately, I do not believe Halloween is one of those cultural holidays. However that is my PERSONAL OPINION. Halloween is a day for humor, light hearted mockery, and costumes. My culture is not a costume. As a woman of mixed Chinese and Vietnamese heritage, I choose to celebrate both with the utmost respect, even if it means putting away my beautiful dresses to be worn only on the rarest occasion.

    I thank you for hearing me out on this issue, and for your initial correction on your blog post. I do enjoy your blog, although our ideas and values are different, and hope to continue to read your blog. I would like to recommend some interesting articles about cultural appropriation, especially during Halloween.

    http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/living/halloween-ethnic-costumes/index.html

    http://www.racialicious.com/2011/10/31/open-letter-to-the-pocahotties-and-indian-warriors-this-halloween/

    Please have a happy and safe Halloween with your family. I appreciate the opportunity to have this dialog with you, especially since we can share this with all of your readers, who may or may not be as culturally sensitive as either one of us.

    Peace,

  4. tina says

    I hope I don't ruffle feathers, but I respectfully disagree with dorable. My parents were Amish, and raised us kids as Christians. My Amish roots run very deep, on both sides of the family. I have dressed up as Amish before. I never did it to disrespect my parents or their childhoods. And I love my Amish cousins very much. I just don't think you ment any disrespect to your heritage. How about next year, we go together, you can be Amish, and I'll be Chinese?lol just KIDDING!!! πŸ™‚

  5. Sarah says

    Thank you for sharing those articles, I read both of them and I'm grateful that you shared your views and opinions, because now I'm more open-minded and see other people's point of view. We only see things from our own eyes, our own experiences and upbringing, and it's important to share dialogues such as this so we can all be more educated. It makes sense that traditional dresses such as these are meant for very personal and important events like weddings and holidays, and I respect that. When I first read your comment, I thought you were just talking about how I worded it to dress as "Chinese" and it didn't even register to me that you were referring to the costume itself. I guess as growing up, I didn't celebrate Halloween as an excuse to dress up to mock something. I wouldn't dress up to make fun of something, it's because I respect whatever my "costume" is, and it makes me feel pretty, hence dressing up in my Korean dress since my friends never get to see me in my beautiful dress so it's a way of showing off my culture and the beautiful outfit to them. But some people do dress up as a mockery of something, and that's where it could be offesi

  6. Sarah says

    oops, pressed publish too soon. πŸ™‚

    …offensive to someone. I think as long as our attitude is of respect and especially if it's our own culture or race, it's always with respect and never mockery because why would you make fun of your own race or culture?

    But I am more open minded and I thank you for that. I hope you had a wonderful Halloween as well!

    xoxo

  7. Sarah says

    Haha, Tina, we will definitely ruffle some feathers then! πŸ™‚ I agree with you, I think if it's our own culture or race and we do it with respect and dress up because we love our culture, it's okay. Once again, it's about our attitude towards our costumes that dictates whether it's offensive or not. Thank you so much for your comment!

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